hidden and unusual places in the world

Beyond the Map (from the author of Off the Map): Unruly enclaves, ghostly places, emerging lands and our search for new utopias by Alastair Bonnett

I know I shouldn't really say this sort of thing out loud, but this was actually a lot more interesting than I thought it might be. It consists of 39 short stories about the author's travels around different parts of the world to places that are often uncharted, forgotten, or lost. Actually, there are quite bizarre and spooky stories, too. It has made me want to visit these places to see if I can feel myself surrounded by ghosts (The Phantom Tunnel of Shinjuku Stat
ion, British Graveyard- Shimla, and Magical 'ley-lines' of London for starters!) or hidden places like Doggerland (nope, not what you're thinking - relates to Dutch boats) in Suffolk that has a road that just disappears off a cliff edge into the sea! Yes, climate shifts are a scary thing for little islands like the UK...

As you can tell I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's interesting to not only discover these new tales of old, but to realise how some micro-nations are struggling to survive, as new islands emerge, and borders and boundaries come and go changing our world faster than ever before.

A fascinating book that's also quite alarming! ( )

The idea is fascinating--to visit odd places around the world--and many of the places are indeed fascinating. But Bonnett's book, with its short vignettes, barely scratches the surface. It will have you doing all sorts of internet searches to find out more about some of these places, whether it is the Indian city, Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, which also includes the amazing Nek Chand rock garden, the new islands appearing in the Arctic as the ice recedes, or the breakaway Russian part of Ukraine, Bonnett usually chooses his subjects well. His writing is very scattershot, however, and his knowledge of some of the places he goes is severely lacking. The book presents lots of facts but very little insight, and for someone who has had the good fortune to travel to so many places, he seems to have a strange lack of curiosity. Compared to the way a writer like Iain Sinclair (one of whose books I recently reviewed) can make the most out of the way, and even unfashionable places, interesting, Bonnett is severely lacking. Perhaps this is because the book tries to visit too many places (39). Each one deserves three or four times the space it gets. Bonnett's writing style is okay, and he manages to be poetic on occasion, but there remains a curious disconnect between the writing and its subjects. As a reader, I wasn't getting the insights I expected.

I will give him credit for one very good thing however. When asked which of the 39 places would make a good holiday destination, he advises, "...my advice is not to drive or fly anywhere at all. Set off on foot from your own front door and head in a new direction. Don't walk quickly or have your head down, and don't give up after half an hour. Let it happen and give it time. I'm increasingly convinced that walking is the only real form of travel: everything else is just speeding past." ( )